UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad will likely be the latest freshman to take advantage of the NBA's one-and-done rule. AP photo

DAYTON, Ohio—NCAA president Mark Emmert is so accustomed to those he encounters while transacting the public duties of his position making an issue of the organization’s unprecedented punishment of the Penn State football program that he made a small joke of the fact nobody brought it up Monday afternoon.

Emmert was the featured speaker at the annual Wright State basketball tip-off luncheon, so perhaps that explains why the few questions thrown at him from the audience dealt instead with roundball. One person wanted to know what could be done about the “one-and-done” phenomenon, which perhaps reached its apotheosis when Kentucky won the NCAA championship last April with three starters who left after their freshman season to become first-round NBA draft picks.

While acknowledging the NCAA does not have jurisdiction over draft eligibility rules, that the NBA and its players association negotiated the current age limit, Emmert declared one-and-done to be “anathema to the collegiate model of athletics. I dislike it enormously.”

He went on to suggest some who enroll with that in mind are encouraged not to function as serious students.

Emmert was asked about the contagion of conference realignment that took place in the past two years. He spoke of his experience as president at the University of Washington when the Pacific-10 was considering expansion to include Colorado and Utah.

He lamented that one element that went missing when so many schools moved leagues was the degree of “trust” necessary for a league to function and also expressed concern about how leagues with vast geographies will affect the experience of athletes already facing great demands on their time and energy.“

To do business inside a conference, you’ve got to be able to trust each other,” Emmert said. “You know, you sit and you all swear allegiance to the conference, and then you know during the coffee break people are out there on the phone trying to see if they can get in another conference. That’s a problem. We needed to stop. We need a little healing to go on and we need to make sure that students—and this is where we come in—that students aren’t getting abused with travel.”

Emmert’s speech primarily focused on the challenges of taking over the NCAA at a time when there were a series of raging controversies, starting with Cam Newton’s eligibility to compete for Auburn and continuing on through the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky case that became a consistent lead story on the network news.

He insists that the collegiate athletic model is in better shape than many believe.

“This is a terrific moment for college athletics. Yes, we have some high-profile problems. It’s our job to deal with those problems and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Afterward, he spoke with Sporting News on a number of pressing subjects:

On how the NCAA is handling North Carolina’s academic fraud case relative to the speed with which Penn State was punished: “Obviously, there are limitations to what I can say on anything that’s still unfolding. But any comparison to Penn State is simply wrong. The Penn State case was like nothing that’s ever been seen in intercollegiate athletics, ever. And we made clear, I made clear, the board made clear at the time that this is something we were doing this one time because of these extraordinary circumstances. And we never expected, and certainly hoped never to take that course again. What’s happening with any of the cases that are out there—and we have a number of cases that are active right now, all of which are problematic cases, but certainly ones that could be handled with the normal course of NCAA business.”

On North Carolina: “We certainly will wait on that—or any case similar to that—until all the facts unfold. And there still is information to be developed on that case, both by the institution and others.”

On stipends for athletes, initially approved for implementation but delayed by objections from some member schools: “It’s still in the works, and the working group that was dealing with that issue is going to be bringing out a new set of recommendations over the course of this academic year. I’m still very supportive of the concept. I think it makes great sense. And I’m hopeful we can find a way to get a model that the whole membership, all 350-odd D-I members can support. But we’ll have to wait and see.”

On whether he would be willing to work with the NBA and NBA Players Association to alter the draft age limit that currently stands at one year out of high school: “We’ve had some conversations. I’ve had conversations with David Stern and others, in the league office. We’re still exploring with them and with the Players Association what is and isn’t possible. But at the end of the day, that’s got to be their decision.”